Chasing Ripples
by Itachifreak8271
Summary: They say even the smallest breeze from a butterfly's wings can cause the deadliest of storms. But Sarutobi had his own theory: if you can kill the butterfly before it can flap its wing, nothing will happen. Naruto's theory on the topic: "Fuck them butterflies." Time-travel fic. ANBU Naruto.


**Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto. **

**Read and Review. Constructive criticism is welcomed, I know there are a ton of errors but I'm slowly but surely improving (I hope so).**

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Sarutobi Hiruzen looked over the village from his office window. It was a beautiful day today. The bright blue sky lay in the humid air, with no clouds in sight. His eyes strayed from the sky to the Ninja Academy, where he could see the future Genin making idle conversation with one another as they walked away from the Academy.

Guilt washed over him just as it normally did whenever he saw any of the future Genin. He saw the bulk of them die in person and every time he saw them, he just couldn't get the image of their dying face out of his mind. He had nightmares everyday about it. As the Hokage, it was his duty to protect them from danger. He had failed them as a Hokage twice already, but this time it was going to be different. It had to be. Because if he failed them for a third time, there would be no way to rewind it and make amends.

The elder man took out his pipe. He needed a nice little smoke. Taking a long, slow breath of his pipe, Hiruzen felt the smooth smoke and comforting aura fill his lungs and begin to soothe away his worry. "So good."

"Report," Sarutobi announced, sensing that his two youngest ANBU were in the office.

"Your reflexes have declined old man," joked one of the ANBU. The clothing he wore consisted of the standard ANBU uniform. His porcelain mask had a large N on each side. The nice daytime breeze from the window gently ruffled his blond hair. "We were in here for a whole second before you even recognized us."

"That's enough time for someone to slice your head off" the dark-haired ANBU commented. Like his companion, he sported the standard ANBU uniform and a porcelain mask. However, instead of having an N he had an insignia of a whirlpool on each side.

Hiruzen sighed. He hadn't wanted the two to become an ANBU at such a young age. They should have had a chance to grow up first. Hiruzen shook his head, this line of thinking was the reason they were in this predicament in the first place. They were shinobi and the best had to fight to aid in protecting the village from outside threats, no matter the age.

"Can I actually get an animal name now?" Naruto pondered, breaking Hiruzen from his thoughts. "N is such a retarded ass name and this corny ass mask is so... How should I say it? Oh, corny!"

"I'd rather have your name, than have a rival clan's name and their symbol."

Sarutobi chuckled at their complaining. "I'm quite fond of you guys' mask and name, to be truthfully honest."

"You suck."

"I'm so sad right now" sarcastically responded the elder Hokage. "Now get on with the debriefing."

Naruto scowled. "Our future Genin... hmm, how can I say this as nice as possible. Oh yeah, they fucking suck. On a more serious note, they are all improving, but our Academy Students are still considerably weaker than villages." Naruto began. "Yesterday the Sensei's trapped us in a D-rank Genjutsu and only Neji was able to identify it and break it. From viewing your visions of you watched them spar with one another in the future, they are stronger now than they ever were as a Genin, for whatever that's worth. Nonetheless, considering that they are about to graduate in a week it's pretty sad."

Sasuke shrugged his shoulders. "I don't believe their lack of skill in Genjutsu is all that surprising, especially since even the strongest Konoha shinobi aren't too proficient in it anyways."

The Sandaime nodded slowly. Genjutsu was quickly beginning becoming a lost art int the world of Shinobi, along with Fuuinjutsu, in favor of the more popular Ninjutsu and Taijutsu. It could be because the latter two arts requires more intelligence to master, or maybe because it's just not as flashy.

Hiruzen looked away from the two and sighed. "So I've failed them once again."

"You didn't fail anyone" Sasuke supplied. "This crop of future Genin just isn't all that talented, despite many of them coming from noble clans. Nevertheless, we've come up with a suggestion that we feel is the most effective way to maximize their talents."

The young blond shot him an incredulous look. "You actually want to go through with it."

Sasuke sighed, whilst moving his head. "After reading through your detailed accounts about the future, we've both came to the same conclusion."

"What is it?"

"He's getting there old man?"

"That" Sasuke continued. "Not only were their academy training sabotaged, but the training they 'received, from their Jōnin instructor was also sabotaged. Specifically the Genin that were under the tutelage of Asuma, Kurenai and Kakashi."

Hiruzen visibly flinched at this. "That's impossible" finished the Hokage appearing to deflate. "They are way too loyal to the village, to even think about purposely sabotage their own students."

"Old man that's your problem right there" Naruto spat out brusquely. "Once you become close to someone you instantly become blind to their faults; even when it is pretty obvious that your three 'most loyal instructors' played a part in the village being destroyed, by not having their Genin ready. There isn't a replay button this time. You need to open your eyes or hundreds of innocent lives will be lost… forever this time."

The Sandaime froze. It felt like a kunai had went right through his heart. No matter how painful it was to hear that speech from someone so close to him, the blond ANBU had been right. He really needed to hear that. Hiruzen did need to open his eyes and he needed to stop personal relationships with someone from clouding his judgment about their flaws. People lives are on the line.

"I don't believe that the three Jōnin did it on purpose" Sasuke commented, breaking the tension. "I think that it was more by design."

"So whoever assigned the teams purposely put the Jōnin in a tight spot" Sandaime contributed. The more reports he heard about his former self-signing shit like this off, the more disappointed he got at himself. Why didn't he review the teams? How did he allow so much crooked shit to go down? Was he this blind to his own countrymen? Maybe his advisors were correct after all, he should have stepped down once Minato died.

Sasuke nodded in agreement. "But that's not the only problem. The lax rules from the village played a part in all of this. It allowed Kakashi to basically show up whenever he wanted, sometimes 5 hours later than the scheduled, while not receiving any type of punishment. This sets a horrible precedent for his students. In addition, from adding up the hours that you supplied us with, he missed over 70 hours of time that could have used training or doing other activities. To make matters worse he didn't give them any task to complete when he wasn't there."

"That is not all," Sasuke continued. "Then he continued on with a highly dangerous mission, which resulted in the death of him and Sakura, when he knew that his team wasn't even ready to take on a mission with the degree of difficulty that high. From reading through your reports, we were barely even ready to complete a low C-rank mission. We stood no chance in completing that mission; it's a miracle that Naruto and myself managed to make it out alive."

"That wasn't too wise of a move," admitted the elderly Hokage. Losing Sakura was already a political nightmare, but it would have been 1000 times worse if the lone Uchiha and the Jinchuriki would have died in that same mission. They would have crucified his old ass. He could feel a faint headache coming on just thinking about it. "Improving communication with Shinobis on missions is an absolute must, as well as me having a talk with Kakashi about correcting that tardiness problem. I've also decided to administer weekly test on the Genin teams to see if they're improving."

The Uchiha carried on. "Kurenai was dealt with a bad hand, because she was given Genins that don't fit her abilities as a Jōnin. Nevertheless, whether it was pride or something else, she didn't decline the team and their shortcomings rest on her shoulders. This is the only team, in my opinion, that has a good setup and only needs minor changes because it would be beneficial to us to have a team with advanced tracking abilities. I think Neji's expertise with his clan's Dojutsu would be a better fit with this team than Hinata. The Jōnin that I believe is best suited for this team is Kakashi."

Hiruzen shook his head and turned to the window. He didn't want the two young Shinobis to see the smirk he had on his face. They did not need any more confidence than they already had. Nonetheless, he had to admit that their scouting was top-notch. Kakashi was a great choice for this group. A man who epitomizes versatility, Kakashi's expertise is not limited to the three major ninja skill sets; he is renowned for his tracking abilities and has otherwise displayed proficiency with trap-making, medical, survival, escapism, stealth, subterfuge, and assassination. With Kakashi's ninken and the abilities of his lone Sharingan, he was one of the best trackers this village had ever seen.

Hiruzen turned back around, covering his tired face with his hand. "I wholeheartedly agree."

"Now onto Asuma" Sasuke started. "Asuma is a very skilled shinobi, but there are two problems I have with him receiving a Genin team. First off his nonchalant attitude encouraged Shikamaru to continue being lazy and thinking that his superior intellect would be enough to make it. As you know, this led to him being killed during the Chunin Exam by someone who intellect rivals his own. Secondly, Asuma's fighting style is too reliant upon using Fūton based attacks, which no one in the village besides Naruto has that affinity. So to me he would be better off without have a team."

"The Ino-Shika-Cho trio could actually become a formidable group, yet we believe it'll be better if they were split up. Splitting them up has nothing to do with their ability to work with one another, because as you know they are made for one another."

It is not that farfetched of an idea. It was more for political reasons that the three clan members were on the same team along with a Sarutobi leading them. The old Ino-Shika-Cho trio was one of the weaker teams at the time because of the predictability of their attacks.

"Sasuke just wants his girlfriends on his team."

The dark-haired Shinobi shot the blond a glare to which Naruto just casually shrugged off.

"We've decided it would be better if" Sasuke paused for a moment, he couldn't believe what he was about to say. "Yamanaka Ino and Tenten were on my team under the guidance of Shiranui Genma."

"You're going to bribe them."

"I wouldn't call it bribing them" Sasuke smirked, "Think of it more as wisely using your resources."

"Do you believe that Kurenai is deserving of a team?"

"I'd allow her be the sensei of my 'team'" Naruto interjected with some amusement. "Any day."

Sasuke folded his arms. "I was just getting there," he informed the Hokage. "We've come to the conclusion that she should take Haruno Sakura as her apprentice," Sasuke answered. "With her excellent control over her chakra, and her innate ability to use techniques to their maximum efficiency without wasting any chakra, she just has a natural talent for Genjutsu. Also, I believe Kurenai will teach her what it means to be a respectable kunochi in and out of missions."

Hiruzen nodded, signaling for Sasuke to carry on with his extensive report.

* * *

"Ok, you guys" Iruka announced, standing in front of the classroom. "Now you guys will be divided into teams of three led by a Jonin that will be responsible for teaching you from now on until you reach the rank of Chunin."

"Team 6's Sensei will be Hatake Kakashi: with the members being Inuzuka Kiba, Hyuga Neji, and Aubrame Shino."

"Team 7 will consist of Yamanaka Ino, Tenten and Uchiha Sasuke under the command of Shiranui Genma."

"Yes!" Exclaimed an overjoyed Ino, as she jumped up in the air. "I'm on Sasuke-kun's squad."

Sasuke's expression didn't change; however, Sakura glared at the female blonde with envious eyes to which Ino replied with a flip of the bird.

"On Team 8 we will have" Iruka continued on, ignoring the inappropriate gesture.

Hinata began pressing her index fingers together as thoughts raced through her head. _'I might be on a team with Naruto-kun. I might actually be on a team with Naruto-kun.' _Those thoughts kept repeating as the instructor worked his way down the list.

"Hyuga Hinata, Nara Shikamaru and Akimichi Chouji with Mitarashi Anko leading them."

"Troublesome."

Iruka genuinely felt sorry for the lazy genius. He should say former lazy genius, because he knew that Anko-san would not tolerate such laziness. Moreover, Iruka already knew that she would do whatever it took to cure him of his laziness. Many bloody shirts would be in his future.

Naruto grinned. "That means Haruno Sakura must be on my team." The blond said giving a thumbs up to the pink-haired kunochi.

"Please no."

Iruka sighed. He sure was going to miss all the ruckus. "The Tenth and final team's Jōnin will be Uzuki Yugao and her protégés will be Uzumaki Naruto, Yuki Ami and a person handpicked by the Hokage himself, Satoshi Yota."

Yota Shunshinned right beside Iruka. "Hello" he said. He was a small, skinny boy with tan skin and a constant blush. His spiky brown hair hung over his dark green eyes.

Sasuke and Naruto glanced at one another whilst the same thought ran through their mind simultaneously. _So this is Danzo's supposed prodigy_.

"Lee Rock and Haruno Sakura follow me," announced Iruka. "And that's it for now." Iruka finished, "You will all be picked up by your respective Jōnin sensei after the break. Until then get together with your team, get to know them, and good luck to everyone of you guys." Iruka took one last glimpse at his former students before leaving with Lee and Sakura.

'_This should be interesting.'_

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**Author's **Note: I've finally posted this story. Another time traveling fic. Pretty stupid idea eh? Probably.

Anyways read and review (please review).


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